Near-eye display technology may be used to present information and images to a user as part of a virtual reality (“VR”) or augmented reality (“AR”) system. Such a near-eye display may be incorporated into a head-mounted display (“HMD”) device or headset. While these near-eye information displays can be oriented as direct-view, often the information displays are coupled with one or more lenses in the HMD. Lens systems may comprise lenses, various optical elements, aperture stops, and a lens housing to contain the various components in optical alignment with one another. Such lenses can enhance the VR or AR experience, but performance of lens systems depends, in part, on the design of each of the elements of the system as well as the overall design of the system, which sets forth the optical interaction among the elements.
Traditional information displays, such as liquid crystal displays, typically emit light over a broad angular cone or field of view. The angular divergence of these traditional displays can range beyond 160 degrees and even approach 180 degrees. When directly viewed, this angularly broad light may not cause undesirable effects. However, when traditional information displays are employed in an HMD, such as in a VR or AR system, the angularly broad emissions can lead to undesirable results. This is the case when the light emitted by the information display strikes the lenses of the HMD at incoming angles of incidence that are beyond the imaging capability of the lenses. Such light is not properly imaged to the user's eye(s) at least partly due to the fact that off-axis light exhibits polarization that is somewhat elliptical. That is, on-axis light is linearly polarized, while off-axis light exhibits some degree of elliptical polarization. Thus, light at angles beyond the focusing capability of the HMD's lens(es) can result in undesirable visual effects like flood illumination, ghosting, glare, scatter, and other stray light effects. This stray non-imaged light can result in the user of the VR or AR headset experiencing undesirable visual artifacts.